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The chief executive of Euronext.liffe has hit back at comments by Clara Furse, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, that its plans to change clearing arrangements could be "anti-competitive," arguing that his company would operate under a competitive disadvantage if it failed to change.

Euronext.liffe, one of the largest derivatives exchanges in Europe, is planning to launch its own clearing house, having reached an agreement with its current provider, LCH Clearnet, to share clearing duties.

The development was first reported by Financial News in February and confirmed by Liffe three weeks ago.

Today, Liffe's chief executive, Hugh Freedberg, argued that the current arrangement "is not meeting its business needs in today’s global marketplace. If Liffe is not able freely to choose its clearing solution, it would not be able to compete on a level playing field and would be at a competitive disadvantage.”

But Furse criticized the plan on Tuesday, arguing that UK exchanges setting up “vertical silos,” where an exchange runs its own clearing house and limits access to rivals, was anticompetitive.

She said: “NYSE Euronext has announced that it now intends to operate a special, segregated clearing arrangement within LCH.Clearnet for contracts traded on Liffe, its derivatives unit. This will have all the characteristics of a silo, protecting Liffe from competition.”

Freedberg rejected these claims today, however, arguing the equities and futures markets are not comparable when it comes to clearing.

He said: “Exchange-traded derivative futures products are different. They are proprietary instruments in the development of which the exchanges make a substantial investment.

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“The clearing process is inherently more complex, extends over a far longer period, and is more reliant on proprietary know-how bound up in the product, than is the case for ordinary shares,” he said.

The LSE has considered launching its own clearing house, based on Cassa di Compensazione & Garanzia, the Italian clearing house owned by Borsa Italiana, the Italian exchange group the LSE bought in October, as first reported in Financial News in August last year.

However, a spokeswoman for the exchange said this week: “Borsa Italiana is organized vertically but it does not operate as an exclusive silo.”

Mamoun Tazi, an exchange analyst at broker MF Global, said: “They seem to be overlooking the fact that they own their own vertical silo in Borsa Italiana."